


Can't Change Anything

by NAOA



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Drama, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Gen, Hospitals, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22793710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NAOA/pseuds/NAOA
Summary: Chase's stepmother is the team's newest patient and her arrival causes some stress.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this was the first House m.d. fic I ever wrote and only one I think I ever posted, I wrote it back in 2015 for a friend. I believe I intended this to be set somewhere in season three, either before or after the Tritter arc. Thanks!

The office door swung open and House sauntered in looking gleeful. "New case!" He announced, tossing three folders onto the table. "Woman, mid sixties fainted last night at a hotel fundraiser and complained of chest pain. Causes, anyone?"

There was a pause and everyone looked up at him. "That's it?" Foreman asked.

"No, her skin turned green and she started levitating?" Cameron asked.

House paused, making a faux attempt to search his memory. "Nope."

Chase picked up a file curiously and flipped to the first page, immediately going stiff. "No." He said firmly, looking up.

House straightened his face, waiting for their reactions.

Cameron opened her file and looks over at Chase. "Is this your-?"

He sat back in his seat, crossing his arms and putting distance between himself and the file. "You knew." He growled at House.

House gave him an disbelieving look. "Of course I knew. Why else would I take this case? This is the interesting part. Diane Chase, wealthy widow oooof you guessed it, Dr. Rowan Chase! Junior can fill you in on the details."

Chase's face, if possible grew even more sour.

Foreman sat back too, seemingly resigned. "Could have been anything. Dehydration, low blood pressure, over heating, she could just be tired."

"It could be a blood clot." Cameron said, eyes still on Chase who was staring fixedly at a point on the wall, evidently too angry to speak.

"I wanna hear what Chase thinks." House said.

Chase's head snapped towards him, eyes glaring. "Anything they said."

"Oh that's boring. Well, since you didn't come up with any new ideas you get to go take the patient history."

If possible Chase looked even angrier. "No." He said.

House raised his eyebrows. "Then you do have an idea!"

"I agree, he shouldn't treat her." Cameron said, speaking up quickly. "We shouldn't treat patients we know."

House waved her off. "Chase doesn't know her. She just married his father. He stayed with his mum."

Chase's jaw twitched.

"I'll do it." Foreman said firmly, getting up. "While I do it do you want me to get an MRI of her lungs to check for blood clots?"

"Chase and Cameron can do that." Both Foreman and Cameron gave him hesitant looks. "Oh relax, he doesn't have to talk to her."

Cameron and Foreman disappeared and Chase got up to leave. "Where are you going?" House asked quickly.

He paused, physically restraining himself from taking a swing at House. "Clinic."

House paused staring down at the file on the table, thinking before looking up. "Fine but be back in time for the MRI."

Shaking his head with irritation Chase stormed out, heading directly for the clinic where he sought to distract himself. He considered going to Cuddy but didn't, instead motioning for a woman and her sick kid to follow him into an exam room.

"Do you think we should have this case?" Cameron asked as she and Foreman headed to the patient's room.

Foreman shook his head. "I think we should. I don't think Chase should and I think House only took this because he wanted to get under Chase's skin."

Cameron nodded. "Do you think Cuddy knows?"

He glanced at her. "Yeah but if you want to remind her you can do that on your own." They arrived at the patient's room and looked in. A good looking older woman was sitting up in bed reading a magazine. She looked over when they entered.

Cameron smiled. "Mrs.. ." She hesitated. "Chase, how are you feeling?" It felt weird to say.

She looked them up and down. "Much better, I don't think I'll be in your way for very long."

"Well we'd like to run some tests just to make sure everything's okay." Cameron said with a smile.

She folded her hands and smiled professionally. "Of course, my late husband was a doctor. I know how it goes. Is Dr. House going to be in?"

They glanced at each other. "Um, he's very busy but he's made you a priority so I'm sure he'll be in as soon as he can." Cameron said quickly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Rowan said he could be hard to see. I thought he was talking about getting him as a doctor."

"Well he's a very good doctor."

She smiled in a pleasant but very refined way. "Lucky I was in New Jersey then. Rowan said he's one of the best."

"We'd like to schedule an MRI to check for blood clots." Foreman said, directing the conversation back to the patient.

She raised a pleased eyebrow at his professionalism and nodded. "Of course."

"We can get one in in at noon, will that be okay?"

"Sounds fine." She looked at them expectantly before Cameron excused them.

Out in the hall she checked to make sure the door was shut before speaking. "She didn't even ask about Chase. Do you think she doesn't know we work with him?"

"Even if she doesn't know we work with him she knows he works in this hospital, my guess is that she doesn't want to know. And it's not my business."

Cameron frowned. "Don't you care that House is throwing this in his face just to get a reaction?"

"I care that it's unethical and probably wasting our time but it's not my business." That wasn't entirely true, he felt a little bad for Chase but he was determined to stay out of it.

Cameron blinked and slumped her shoulders slightly before following him back to the office.


	2. Chapter 2

Chase's pager went off just as he finished giving check up to a ninety year old man. He tossed his gloves away and fumed. In all the time he had spent in the clinic he was still in a bad mood and hearing his pager go off just made it worse. House wanted him back for the MRI.

He walked at a steady pace back to the office, determined not to go too fast or too slow. At least House had been right that with an MRI he didn't actually have to talk to his stepmother.

"And here he is!" House crowed, eager to see Chase's new reaction. "Clinic can wait, family comes first. So go wheel her down for an MRI and hop fast like a kangaroo back to me with the results." Chase scowled and Cameron promised to meet him in the MRI room so he didn't have to see his stepmother.

Once the patient was inside the machine Cameron tried to initiate conversation. "So, are you going to visit her?" She asked.

He looked at her wide eyed, silently telling her to stop. "No."

"Even as just a relative?"

"I'm not her relative. I've only met her a handful of times."

She nodded evenly. "Mrs. Chase I'm going to turn on the machine, I need you to lie still for me please." She said, pressing an intercom button. "I was only asking." She added, taking her hand off of the button.

"Well don't."

There was a pause broken only sound of the machine and then a voice called out. "Is Robert still working with you?"

Chase stiffened.

Cameron glanced at him and pressed the button again. "Yes, he is."

"I was wondering, I haven't seen him. Is he in today?"

"Yes but he's working the clinic right now. It's very backed up."

"I see. Is he a good doctor?"

Cameron glanced at Chase again. "I think so." Chase's body language gave her a sarcastic 'thanks'.

"Do you like working with him?"

"Oh, I don't mind. He's not bad."

"I don't really know him. Rowan talked about him occasionally but I don't know much about him. He stayed with his-"

Chase cut her off, pressing the button. "I'm right here." he wanted to end the conversation before it became to personal.

"Oh." Diane let out a flat sound. "So you're not in the clinic."

"I was earlier."

"Oh but you were here now just letting me run my mouth on and on." She sounded embarrassed.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Sorry."

there was an awkward silence and then she said: "How are you doing?"

He could feel Cameron's eyes on him as he leaned forward yet again and pressed the com button. "I'm fine. How are you?"

"I've been fine. It's been lonely since your father passed. I was in town for a fundraiser. Rowan attended it every year and I thought I should keep his name on it. I think it would have made him happy."

"That's um. . . that's good of you. I didn't know there was a fundraiser he attended here."

"No? He came to town almost every year. He didn't visit you?"

Chase's jaw worked furiously and he wished the conversation would end. "No. He must have been busy." He started to sit but but pressed the button again. "I'm sorry, we're going to have to stop talking it's messing with the images."

He sat back in his seat, feeling hot and embarrassed and avoided eye contact with Cameron who was gazing at him with a worried expression. "I'm not seeing anything on the scans." He said. "If there's a clot it's not in her lungs."

Cameron studied the image for a moment before sighing. "I guess we'll tell House. Are you okay."

"Fine. I don't want to talk about it."

She shrugged and nodded, still worried about him. "Do you want me to take her back to her room?"

"Yeah, I don't think you'll need me for that."

She inclined her head. "You've already talked to her, it might be a good chance to get to know her."

He spun his chair around to face her. "And why wold I do that?"

Cameron shrugged, defensively. "I just thought that since she was with your dad when he died maybe you'd like to talk to her a little."

"He left my mom for her, neither one of them told me he was dying and she called me after he died, not while he was on his death bed. I don't want to get to know her."

She blinked, startled. "I. . . I didn't realize. . . I'm sorry."

"If you don't need my help I'll take the scans back to House." And with that he stalked off, foul mood increasing.

"And how'd it go?" House asked, looking up from behind his desk.

Chase flushed with the effort of suppressing his temper. "No clots. MRI was clean. It's not her lungs."

"Well that's actually semi-interesting. Did you talk to her?"

"She talked to Cameron."

"Oh come on, you were practically locked in a room with her."

Chase shrugged. "I ran the test, it's clean what do you want now? Do you want me to scan her heart, start her on blood thinners? She's already on carbohydrates and she's not running a fever. Either give me another test or discharge her."

House let him have his moment before thinking. "Her blood pressure is abnormally low, I'm not ruling out a clot just yet. You probably just didn't find it."

Chase rolled his eyes. "Do you want me to scan something else then?"

House looked up. "How about what's behind you?"

Chase turned around and saw Cuddy marching towards them. She looked angry. "House, you told me you'd keep Chase off of this case." She said.

"He hasn't even been in the same room with her!" House cried.

Cuddy gave him an exasperated look. "You had him running an MRI on her."

"He just told me Cameron did all of the talking and from the looks of it, she did more than she had to."

"House, it's his stepmother. Weather he's biased in a positive or negative way he's still biased."

"Oh relax, he's not going to poison her. He Barely knows her. Ask him when her birthday is."

She turned slightly as though she was going to actually ask and the turned back. "This is wrong. He shouldn't be treating her."

"Fine, he won't treat her. He'll just run tests and do lab work. Happy?"

Cuddy danced on the spot for a moment before sighing and rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Fine but if I find out he's treating her you're both in trouble."

"Careful, if you keep talking like that he's gonna think he has a third mom."

She left, looking more annoyed and now slightly defeated and house turned back to Chase who had been standing between them feeling like a kid caught in his parents' argument. "What are you still doing here?"

"Well what do you want me to do? I can't treat her."

"You can't treat her. You can still draw blood and run tests. Just when it comes to the actual giving medicine stuff you can't help. Go draw blood and run a tox-screen. Oh and if she tries to give you any apples, don't eat them."

With nothing for it Chase went to draw blood, running into Cameron outside the room. "Great, can you go draw some blood for me? House wants me to run a tox-screen."

She looked back at the room and was about to speak when her pager went off. "I-" She looked down. The word Don't popped up on her screen. Looking around she didn't see House but that meant nothing. "Sorry." She tried to look apologetic.

He set his jaw. "Right."

Inside Diane Chase was sitting up, having only just returned to the room. "What did the MRI show?" She asked.

"It was clean, the problem's not in your lungs." He said automatically.

She gave him a considering look. "Were you avoiding me?"

"I had to help in the clinic. I need to draw blood now for a few more tests."

She gave him a knowing smile and held out her arm. "I'm sure. So your father never came and visited you when he was in town?"

"No."

"He was probably very busy."

"Yeah, probably."

She looked away from the sight of her own blood as it filtered through a tub. "I'm squeamish." She said with a slight smile.

He nodded, not wanting to make eye contact.

She looked back when he made to change the vial. "You know you look like him when he was young."

He looked up and suddenly had a horrible thought that maybe she had known his father a lot longer than he'd guessed. A horrible thought said maybe his father had been having an affair for years.

"I've seen pictures of him when he was your age. He had very lovely blond hair."

He relaxed. "I remember."

"My children look like their father too. My late husband. He was a patient of your father's."

He glanced up at her and suddenly wanted to flee the room. The thought that maybe his father had raised another family was too awful to even think about. He finished drawing blood and turned to leave. "We'll let you know if we find anything as soon as we can."

She folded her arms and gave him an appraising look. "Well then I'll see you later."

He hurried out of the room, his head felt light. That was much more information than he wanted and his stomach was twisting. He didn't return to the office and he didn't head straight for the lab. Instead he took a detour to the vending machines and tried to clear his thoughts. Maybe Cameron was right, maybe he shouldn't be working on this case.


	3. Chapter 3

"The tox-screen was negative for all drugs, pesticides and foreign chemicals." Chase said, holding the papers up for House to see. He had rushed to the lab and done the work the previous day before running home. He'd felt sick to his stomach and that night he had trouble sleeping. He kept waking up, a cold feeling in his chest. This was getting to him and it was only his pride keeping him from asking to be taken off the case.

"Figured." House said. "Chase, angiogram the heart."

"I ran the MRI and did the blood work!" Chase protested.

House made a face. "Poor baby, is someone asking you to do your job?" Chase crossed his arms and looked away. "Cameron, Foreman, search the hotel she was staying at."

Cameron leaned across the table. "Her patient history said she's been having fainting spells over the last year. If it's environmental then it could be at her home in Australia. There's no way we could check that."

House gave her a considering look. "Well not unless Chase feels life going home anytime soon. Just check to see if she brought anything with her. She could be allergic to her shampoo or a perfume she's using."

Cameron and Foreman got up to leave and Chase weighed his options. With the other two out of the room he had his chance to ask off. House was watching him. Maybe he was weighting for just that. He sighed and went to do the angiogram.

"What's on the menu today?" Diane asked as he entered her room.

"We need to do an angiogram." He said,trying to avoid small talk.

She gave him a contemplative look that plainly said she knew he was avoiding talking. "Do I make you uncomfortable?" She asked, not unkindly.

He blinked, startled. "N-no."

"That wasn't a very good lie. If you don't want to be my doctor I won't be insulted."

He paused. "It's not that I don't want to be your doctor it's just that I think I'm biased and that's not a good quality."

She folded her hands and with a quiet intake said: "Then get another doctor to run the procedure." He almost hung his head but she continued. "I'm surprised. I don't think Rowan would have had any trouble with this." Somehow, even though she had said it only as a passing comment it bothered him.

His temper flared up. "You don't know that."

"Are you implying I didn't know my husband, doctor?" Her voice was sharper now.

He bit his lip, regretting his words instantly. They had been petty and childish. "No, I'm not saying that. . ."

"I would hope not because then I would be insulted. Now, go and get another doctor to do the procedure."

He nodded, feeling embarrassed and ducked out the door to tell House he had screwed up.

"What are you doing back?" House asked. "Did the hospital switch to an angiograms in under ten minuets or your money back policy?"

"She didn't want me to do it."

House frowned and Chase prepared himself for the verbal abuse. "Did she want you off the entire case or just this test?"

"I don't know."

"Well, can you treat her or are you going to flake out?" It was a very blunt question.

Chase paused. "I'm not flaking out I just told her that I think I'm too biased to be her doctor."

"Oh good excuse, hide behind hospital procedure to get out of treating your step mother."

"Those rules exist for a reason, I am biased. She's my dad's wife, I have every reason to be biased."

House rolled his eyes. "Everyone's biased on every case we take. This one you just happen to be a little more than usual. It's called looking objectively."

"That's not fair and anyway, you only took this case to get to me. Fainting isn't interesting."

House paused. That was true. "That doesn't matter anymore, we have the case and I need to know if you can work on it or if I should send you home."

Chase set his jaw. "I can work on it." He growled.

"Good now go find something to do since you've managed to weasel your way out of doing the angiogram. I'll make Foreman or Cameron do it."

Chase stood for a minute, not sure what to do.

"I said get out." He turned to go into the outer office but looked back to see House shaking his head. "Door."

"There's nothing here." Cameron said as she and Foreman searched the hotel room. "I mean I can take samples from the stuff she brought with her but I don't think it's causing her to faint."

Foreman rolled his eyes and sank into a a chair. "House is just messing with Chase and because of that he's now wasting our time too. This is getting ridiculous."

"I think it's cruel."

"It's not the nicest thing he's ever done, I'll give you that."

"And Chase shouldn't be participating. He shouldn't even be doing the angiogram."

"Again, House is screwing with him."

They headed back to the Hospital, both irritable only to find Chase missing and an unperformed angiogram waiting. "Why didn't Chase do it?" Cameron asked.

"He found a way out." House said. "One of you do it and if you see Chase tell him he can go home for the day or stay in the ICU. He's hiding out there."

Foreman and Cameron exchanged looks and Cameron went to do the angiogram.

"Why aren't you doing it?" House asked Foreman, looking up.

"Because I think this is pointless. Older woman fainting. Really mysterious. You're just doing this to mess with Chase and it's working."

House shrugged. "Suit yourself. At this rate Cameron's going to end up doing all of the work."

The angiogram revealed a series of small blood clots throughout Diane's circulatory system surrounding her heart. Most were small and with blood thinners would diminish to nothing.

"There." Chase said when Cameron told them what she had found. "The clots slowed her blood flow down and made her pass out when she exerted herself too much. Are we done?"

House gave him a sidelong look before ignoring him. "Any ideas what caused the clots?"

"She's getting older. Older people have protein deficiencies and can't break down blood clots as easily." Foreman interjected irritably.

"Dr. Chase, I sense the need for more blood tests. Be a doll and go draw some more."

Wanting nothing more than the whole thing to be over Chase got up and left. He had spent most of the day hiding out in the ICU until three pages drew him back. Diane did not say she didn't want him as her doctor and said had she would be fine with him doing other tests. He wished she had been more angry.

He turned a corner and stopped. Three people were inside of Diane's room and judging from their ages they were probably her children. He paled and tried to turn away but was stopped by the daughter. "Are you one of her doctors?" She asked.

He nodded hesitantly. Australian accent, definitely one of Diane's kids. "She said she had a test done earlier, what did it say?"

"Er, I need to discuss it with her first. Does she mind you being in the room?"

"No, I'm her daughter and those are my brothers. She's fine with it."

He nodded and followed her in. What looked to be the oldest son held out his hand. "Chris Larkin, Dr. . ." He looked at Chase's name tag and his eyes widened. "Mom, you didn't say he was your doctor."

Chase wanted to back out of the room, Chris did not look happy.

"I knew he was a doctor in America but this. . ."

"Aren't there rules against something like this?" The daughter interrupted.

"Usually but I haven't had to make a complaint." Diane said. "Dr. Chase, the test?"

Chase swallowed, maybe he was just imagining things but at the moment all of her childrens' eyes looked hostile. "W-well the test revealed that you have a number of small blood clots around your heart. They haven't made it inside yet and with blood thinners we should be able to manage them. Once they're gone your blood pressure should go back up as well."

"Is that what caused the chest pain?" The other son asked.

"Most likely that was the clots. We'll keep you here for observation for a day or two."

"I told you there wasn't anything to worry about." Diane said, patting her oldest son's hand.

Chase moved to replace her IV bag with blood thinners but was stopped by Chris. "I'd rather someone else did it." He said. "You understand, you being Rowan's son and all it's a little awkward. I don't want any hard feeling getting in the way."

Chase glanced down at Diane who simply shrugged. "Oh yeah, sure. I'll go and um find someone." He left awkwardly feeling yet again embarrassed and a little humiliated.

"Her son wants someone else to attach the IV bag. I guess he thinks I'll poison her or something." He said, sticking his head into the office and throwing the bag on House's desk angrily. "I'm done for the day." He grabbed up his satchel and headed out. It wasn't quite time to leave yet but he was done. He was angry and humiliated.

As he headed for the door he heard someone call out his name. "Dr. Chase!" Turning he saw Chris coming up behind him. He sighed and turned to face him. "I wanted to apologize for earlier. It wasn't anything personal or I guess it was personal but it was nothing against you. Rowan was a brilliant doctor and I miss him, really I do. I was only thirteen when he married my mom. We liked having him around. He wasn't dad but he was pretty great."

Chase felt a painful lump form in his throat.

"Honestly, I think the reason he was so good to us was because of you." Chris seemed almost reluctant to continue but he did anyway. "I think he felt guilty."

And somehow that made him angry. He didn't want to hear about his father feeling guilty or about him raising some other kid.

Chris held out his hand. "I'm sorry I had that reaction earlier I just. . . I worry about mom. You know? I'm sure you felt the same about yours."

"Yeah." He said automatically. It occurred to him that he had met Chris sometime before. He thought it might have been a brief encounter when he visited his father to thank him for helping him get an internship in Melbourne. He started to say so when Chris seemed to realize the same thing.

"I kept thinking I'd never met you before but I think I did. You came and visited us once, didn't you?"

Chase nodded his head, trying to clear it. "Yeah, I think so. I had just gotten an internship."

"Rowan help you get it?"

It wasn't a jab, although the numbers of times House had used it as one were fresh in his mind. Chase nodded. "Yeah."

"Listen, I've got to get back but thanks for looking after her, okay? And uh, I really liked your dad. We were all really sad when he died."

Chase nodded again but couldn't find words to speak, instead he stood still for a minute, watching Chris walk away before turning and walking quickly out to his car.

He sat behind the wheel for a long moment, first hands in his lap and then when he tried turning the car on, tight on the wheel. He hated that House had taken the case. He hated himself for getting so worked up.

He leaned his head against the window and sighed. He wondered if his father had left money to Chris and his siblings. They seemed well off but then they might have had money before. He wasn't naive enough to think Diane was a gold digger or anything like that, she seemed like a fairly nice person and somehow that made everything worse.

And suddenly he felt like a bad person for disliking her so much. She really wasn't a mean or rude person and even after he had snapped at her she had asked him to leave politely. She had even taken into consideration that being around her made him uncomfortable. He rested his forehead on the steering wheel, feeling drained. He knew House would make him do all of the work the next day, it was his last opportunity to put him in the same room with Diane. He considered calling in sick but knew he wouldn't. That would be a dead give away that House had gotten to him.

He put his head in his arms to try and calm down. His mind was racing and he was upset. She was a nice lady and nothing was her fault. He felt guilty for blaming her and resenting her children. They had liked his father. He had been nice to them because he felt guilty for leaving his other family? That was awful to think about.

Suddenly his face felt hot and he wanted to get away from the hospital but couldn't move. His fist clenched with anger and then relaxed in defeat. It was bad enough working for House most of the time but now he had his personal business thrown in everyone's face. Foreman already didn't like him and now he probably thought he was a petty jerk. He sniffed, now more embarrassed than ever and rubbed at his temple with his thumb.

A sharp rap on the passenger's side window made him jump.


	4. Chapter 4

"Diane's kids showed up." Cameron said, returning from hanging the IV.

House looked up. "I know. Did Chase get into a fight with one of them?"

"No, I don't think so. One of her sons said he apologized for stopping him from changing the IV."

House paused, thinking hard. Apparently Chase could work with his stepmother as the patient, even if he didn't want to. He paused a full minuet before looking back at Cameron. "Alright then." And without another word he limped off to find Wilson.

Wilson was in his office finishing some paperwork. Without looking up he said: "I heard you found a new way to torment Chase."

"Cuddy tell you that?"

"Among other things. She said she wants Chase to stay away from the patient."

"The patient's cured. She doesn't have to worry. We'll put her on blood thinners, give her a prescription and kick her out the door."

"Beautifully put. I heard Chase insulted her."

"Who told you that?" House sank into a chair.

"Cameron. She said this was getting to Chase."

House rolled his eyes. "It's not getting to Chase and if it is he should be able to manage his personal life better."

Wilson looked up. "You don't think it's a little harsh to throw this at him?"

House paused, hands folded on top of his cane.

"Are you going to tell me you're teaching him some kind of lesson about compartmentalization or how to look at a patient objectively? Because there are better ways to do it."

Again House said nothing until he looked up from the spot on the floor he'd been staring at. "He'll be fine."

"Probably but that's not the point."

"Then what is your point?"

"You're torturing him for no reason and it's bad medicine."

"You don't think it's interesting to meet the woman his father wrote him out of the will for?"

"Again, not the point."

But House seized on it. "But it is interesting."

Wilson sighed. "Yes, I admit it is a little interesting but it doesn't really seem surprising. He left him with his drunk mother, it's not surprising that he wrote him out of his will or that he left it all to his second wife, who he was probably happier with."

House sat back, finally getting what he wanted. "And she doesn't feel any guilt?"

Exasperated Wilson threw up his hands. "If you're so curious why don't you go and talk to her? I can't tell you how she feels. "

"Like she's going to tell me the truth."

"You never know."

Annoyed by Wilson's lack of response House left. He was eager to get out of the hospital before Cuddy cornered him and tried to shove a new case at him and also to leave before Cameron gave him a speech on taking moral high ground.

He limped out of the building in a hurry, heading as quickly as his leg would allow. He headed straight for his car but stopped. The air was just cold enough for him to see the smoke exhaust coming from the tail pipe of a stalled car not far away. He cursed inwardly. Chase's car was parked near there. He'd memorized where each of his employees parking spaces were so he could time them and see if there were any changes in their arrival time. He now wished he hadn't.

Throwing his bag into his own car he limped over to where the parked car was running. Sure enough, it was Chase's. He watched for a minute. Chase was sitting rubbing his temple with his thumb and looked flushed.

Feeling an unwanted and dirty surge of guilt he rapped on the glass of the passenger's side window with hid cane. Chase jumped and looked up and every fiber of House's being groaned. His eyes were watery. Chase was sitting with a dumb expression on his face just looking up. Annoyed House opened the door and clambered in, shutting it against the late fall air. He sat for a moment, watching Chase flush from embarrassment.

"Did one of her kids say something to you?" He asked.

Chase looked dumbfound.

"Did she say something to you?" Still no answer. "Look, it's not the end of the world. She'll be gone tomorrow and then you can go back to sitting on your ass until I take another case and it'll be like usual." He tried to play it off but the stupid way Chase was sitting there looking like his dog had died and he didn't understand was irritating him and his own thinly denied guilt was growing.

Chase turned away for a minute and said with difficulty: "They said he was great. Said they loved having him around."

"And you're upset because he was never around for you."

Chase was angry to have his feelings summed up so clinically and the way House said them they sounded whiny but House was right. "Yeah. Why was he there for someone else's kids when he had his own?"

House looked down at the floor boards. Recently vacuumed. A missed straw wrapper. He didn't want to have this conversation. "I can't tell you that. I can tell you it probably wasn't about you."

And this irritated Chase and made it harder to keep himself in check too. He wanted to be a child and say It never was but he couldn't bring himself to say something like that to his boss.

"I can tell you that even if it does matter now it won't change. He's dead and you can't yell at him." House glanced at him. "Guess you couldn't do that when he was alive either."

Chase shook his head, this time trying to clear it. "I don't get it. Were they better than us?"

The nasty truth was that yes, they probably had been. A wife who didn't drink herself into a coma every night was a vast improvement and kids who didn't make you think about it were too. It was a nasty ugly truth but it was a truth. "They probably aren't any better people than you." House said, weighing his words.

"But to him they were." Chase said bitterly.

"I don't know."

"Chris said he felt guilty. I knew that. Not guilty enough to come back or try and help but I got money when I wanted it and school and a job."

House evaluated his words. "Like I said, you can't change it and you're never going to make sense of it."

"Oh I made sense of it." This time there was anger. "He just didn't care about us. He didn't care about my mother or my sister." House noticed that he didn't include himself. He filed it as probably a last attempt at avoiding self pity.

"You think he didn't care?"

There was a pause and then Chase admitted in a quiet voice: "I don't know, it's easier to make sense if I think he didn't care. If he did I don't understand and then he wasn't good at it anyway."

House was silent for a moment before speaking again. "I knew your father. Not well but enough. He did care about you. I don't know if he cared about your mother but he cared about you." Chase looked up half looking happy, half looking angry. "But he wasn't good at it."

Chase threw his head back and glared out the window. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"No. It's just how it was. He wasn't good at it. I'm not going to make you feel better. You're an adult, you can go to bed tonight and be as mad or as miserable as you want but in the morning, it's up to you weather you want to get up and go to work or lie around and sulk."

Chase didn't even bother to answer. They both knew he would get up and pull himself together. They both knew this was temporary. They both knew he would show up the next morning ready for whatever new case they had or with a crossword ready to kill time until Cuddy forced them to take a new case. Either way he would be fine. But he didn't want to hear it.

House was now staring out ahead, working up the muster to say something difficult. "You don't have to see her tomorrow. Foreman can handle that. He's been sitting on his ass this whole time."

Chase looked at him in surprise and House felt uncomfortable. This kind of thing always made him feel uncomfortable. Someone thinking of him as a good person was uncomfortable. He nodded, affirming the conversation was over and got out, lingering a moment and trying to see if there was anything left to say. Finally he gave one last nod and shut the door, limping back off to his car.

He groaned when he got there. Wilson was sitting in his passenger seat. Gritting his teeth he looked around for an escape before getting in.

"That looked heart felt." Wilson said dryly, mouth twitching.

"Bite me."

"Did you talk to him?"

"What are you doing in my car?"

"Mine's in the shop. Dinner?"

"You're paying."

"Naturally." There was a pause in which House began to back up. Then, as though he couldn't help himself Wilson added: "And I think we can leave junior home just for tonight."

House gave a him a hard look before grinning. As he drove by Chase he rolled down the window. "Be good and don't set the house on fire!" He called out.

Chase's face crumpled into confusion and they pulled away, leaving him utterly confused.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Chase did just what House said. He lay in bed for a moment trying to think before finally coming to the conclusion that it didn't matter how he felt because he couldn't not show up for work. So he swung his legs out of bed and got dressed.

He was greeted rather kindly by Cameron who handed him a cup of coffee. He gave her a suspicious look but she didn't try and start a conversation and the next greeting he got was from a file thrown directly at his head.

"Man, late twenties, temporary paralysis of left leg. No wait, right leg! No, left again. Alternating temporary paralysis. Going once, going twice?" House said, rapping on the white board.

The morning was back to usual and he was glad.

The day continued on normally, Chase avoided his stepmother's room, figuring that once she was discharged that would be the end of it. House wad riding Foreman now, apparently punishing him for not helping on the last case.

Around lunch he decided to head out and grab something to eat but was stopped. His stepmother was being wheeled out of the hospital and she had caught his eye. She motioned for the doctor behind her to push her towards him. "I'm leaving." She said, hands folded over the purse in her lap.

He nodded, not sure how to feel. "Well, it was um. . . nice seeing you."

She gave him a rather sad smile. "Yes, it was. You know, I come here every year now for the fundraiser. Why don't you drop by the hotel next time?"

He gave a shaky nod, knowing he probably wouldn't. "Sure."

Then her expression changed into something much sadder. "I am sorry." He wasn't sure what she was talking about. "I'm sorry for what I said about your father earlier. It wasn't fair of me."

He swallowed and nodded. "I'm sorry for snapping."

She smiled again but it was still sad. "You had every right. And you're a very good doctor. Rowan was proud of you and I think he was right to be."

He shrugged, stirred by the compliment. "Dr. Cameron found the blood clots."

She smiled. "It doesn't matter." Reaching up she squeezed his hand. "Come visit me sometime."

He nodded and gave her a small smile. But they both knew he wouldn't though. She gave him one last squeeze and bade him goodbye.

He watched her go and somehow found himself relaxing. It wasn't that bad and she was a nice person and he couldn't change anything that had already happened. He headed out for lunch, thinking for the first time since House had taken the case about something inconsequential.


End file.
